OpenAI hits $100M run rate from U.S. ChatGPT ads in six weeks

OpenAI reported that its U.S. pilot of ads in ChatGPT generated $100 million in annualized revenue within six weeks of debut. The test began in January for some users on the free tier and the Go plan to support the costs of developing and operating its AI systems.

Ads appear alongside the chat interface, remain separate from generated answers and do not influence outputs, according to OpenAI. The company also maintains that user conversations are not shared with marketers.

A spokesperson noted that about 85% of users are eligible to see ads, while fewer than 20% are shown ads on a given day. OpenAI plans to extend the test to more countries in the coming weeks, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

More than 600 advertisers are participating in the pilot, and nearly 80% of small and mid-sized businesses have indicated interest in advertising on ChatGPT, the spokesperson added.

To broaden access, OpenAI expects to introduce self-serve advertiser tools in April. The company recently appointed David Dugan, a former Meta ads executive, to lead global advertising solutions as the program scales.

“We’re seeing no impact on consumer trust metrics, low dismissal rates of ads, and ongoing improvements in the relevance of ads as we learn from feedback,” the company stated.

As we reported earlier, OpenAI indefinitely shelved plans for an erotic chatbot and ended work on Sora, its text-to-video model, to refocus on core products and fold more features into a single super-app, according to people familiar with internal plans.